Cuddle buddy
by DeJean Smith
Summary: I was 16 years old the first time I woke up in Edward Cullen's arms. He was 20. We were both fully clothed. Damnit.


Cuddle buddy

 **I was 16 years old the first time I woke up in Edward Cullen's arms. He was 20. We were both fully clothed. Damnit.**

Keys jangled as the owner tried to find the right one, no small feat at 4 in the morning after prom.

"Yes, I'm home," Alice Cullen whispered into her phone, dangling silver stiletto sandals from two fingers. "Just closed the door."

She padded through the foyer after dropping her keys in the ceramic bowl she had made in fourth grade. It was an ugly piece of work, a memorial to her gray and purple zebra stripped everything phase, but her mother had sworn she loved it and placed it in a prominent location every time they moved.

"Okay. Will do. I had a wonderful time tonight."

Alice switched ears to remove an earring as her boyfriend wished her good night before correcting himself to say good morning. Her face transformed with that soft, sweet smile of young love.

"Love you, too, Jasper."

She ended the call and realized someone was still awake. Flickering lights down the hall caught her attention, and she softly made her way to the living room. Peeking around the corner she discovered her brother and best friend curled up on the couch, dead asleep.

"What the hell…" she muttered, taking in the scene.

Netflix's "Are you still watching?" message bounced across the television screen.

An empty pizza box lay on the coffee table.

Four crushed Coke cans were in the box.

A half-eaten bag of Oreos sat next to Edward.

Her eyes narrowed at that. Those were _hers,_ and Edward was not supposed to touch them without express permission.

"He stood her up."

Alice looked up and saw her brother's green eyes were open. He made the universal _shhhhh_ sign and pointed toward the still-sleeping woman curled up into his side.

"What?"

Too loud. Bella snuffled briefly as Edward and Alice tensed before she relaxed and fell back into deep slumber.

Alice noticed dark trails down her best friend's cheeks. So much for waterproof mascara.

Wait. Where was the sapphire blue dress? Was that her brother's old Forks High soccer jersey and PE shorts on Bella?

"What happened?" she whispered.

She had helped Bella get ready for her own prom date, not that Bella had wanted to go, but her father had promised Billy that she would be Jake's plus one. The two had been friends since childhood and neither had significant others, so when the reservation high school had its dance on the same night as Forks', their fathers had come up with the idea.

Bella had argued she had other plans. A lie, but dressing up and dancing were at the bottom of her 'have a good time' list. Although, if the truth be completely told, Bella and Alice had enjoyed scouring Port Angeles' consignment stores for the perfect, reusable, cheap dress.

Edward shook his head in disbelief as he recounted coming home to find Bella patiently standing in the foyer, looking out the window for Jake's beat-up Volkswagen Beetle.

" _You clean up well, Swan."_

" _Thanks. I got this…" She swished her dress, making the skirt billow out. "At a consignment store. Twenty dollars. And it has pockets! Alice did my makeup. It's not too much, is it?"_

 _He said no. The look was basically her natural look, just with heavier mascara and maybe a touch of eyeliner. It had taken over an hour to create with much wailing and gnashing of teeth on Bella's part, but he didn't know that._

" _Well, you look beautiful."_

 _He would have sworn she blushed, but it could have been the sparkly, pink powder Alice had floofed on her cheeks._

She had waited an hour past the arranged pick-up time, calling and texting but getting no response. Just as she was about to call her father, a text came in from Seth. A picture of Jake slow dancing with Leah, his hands just barely above the line prom chaperones had harped on as being appropriate, verified that he was not showing up.

" _Come on, Swan," Edward urged, holding up the hot pizza that he'd ordered while she waited. "It's Marcus'!"_

 _He knew she loved the little Italian restaurant's pizza, and he had missed it while away at college. Now that he was back home for the summer, it was time to dig in._

 _When she didn't answer, Edward turned to look at her._

" _Oh, fuck."_

 _Bella was crying. Not sobbing, just face cringed up, eyes squeezed tight crying._

" _Bella?"_

" _The idiot didn't have—" She took a deep breath, angrily wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Didn't have the decency to text me so I could… Fuck." She stomped one foot. "My clothes are in Alice's car."_

 _She had been furious. They were angry tears, not sad ones. Well, that made him feel a little better. No one deserved to be stood up._

" _Pizza?"_

 _Edward didn't know his sister's best friend very well. Bella had recently moved to Forks to live with her father and their time together had been limited at best, but she seemed like a pleasant enough person._

" _What?"_

" _I'm going to go watch Netflix and eat pizza. You're welcome to join me. I know it's not prom, but…"_

" _That sounds wonderful, actually. But…" Bella looked down at her dress._

" _I gotchu."_

 _Edward kicked into big brother mode, running upstairs to grab something suitable to wear since Alice's size small petites were not going to fit Bella's curvier figure._

After Bella changed clothes, the two plopped down on the loveseat, devoured the entire Canadian bacon with extra cheese pizza and argued over who was the better action-adventure actor.

" _Wish I knew where Alice hid her Oreos," Edward muttered, settling back into the sofa and rubbing his belly in satisfaction._

 _Bella's face immediately changed._

" _You know!" he accused, a sly grin gracing his lips._

" _I do not."_

" _You're a terrible liar. It's written all over your face. Where are they, Swan?"_

" _Not telling."_

" _After I sacrificed half of my supper?"_

" _It was a large pizza!"_

" _I'm a growing boy! And it's Marcus'. They don't have that in Seattle."_

 _Bella snorted, shaking her head in disbelief._

" _I'm growing old, here, Swanny!"_

 _Edward was rewarded with a pillow to the face for the name._

" _Oh, you're going to pay for that," he threatened, reaching for a weapon only to find another pillow smacking him in the side of the head._

 _While his vision was blocked, something fell into his lap._

" _What?" He looked down to find a brand new bag of Oreos. Edward could almost hear the angels singing as he ripped open the package and munched into the chocolatey goodness._

" _Did you just sniff the cookies?"_

" _What if I did? Don't knock the joy that is freshly opened Oreos."_

 _Bella reached over and snagged two as he shoved another in his mouth._

" _Just for that, I'll let you pick the next movie," Edward mumbled around half-chewed cookie._

" _Mighty gracious of you since I was going to pick Jason Statham."_

 _He grinned, revealing chocolate flecked teeth, making her laugh which had been his intent from the beginning._

" _You're a mess, Edward Cullen," Bella muttered, grabbing two more cookies before settling down in one corner of the loveseat._

" _Without a doubt," he agreed as the opening of her selection began._

" _Thank you," she said softly, her eyes not leaving the television._

 _He could tell she meant her gratitude extended far beyond sharing Oreos or watching Netflix._

" _Don't mention it, Bella."_

Halfway through the movie, Bella's eyes drooped. By the end, both were asleep.

 **For those reading A Port in the storm…it is not abandoned. The last several weeks have been exceptionally busy, and I've had no time to be on a computer, much less write. As a result, I've kind of lost the flow of the story so I need to go back and reread the entire thing to get back in it. It'll happen, I'm certain, but this plot bunny hit, so I needed to get it down and get back into the swing of writing. I'll probably continue this, but I'm not sure when that will happen.**

 **Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **DeJean**


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